Digital Story-Telling

"As we are made of water, bone, and bio-chemistry, we are made of stories. The students that share their stories in our circles recognize a metamorphosis of sorts, a changing, that makes them feel different about their lives, their identities." - Joe Lambert, Director, Center for Digital Story-Telling

Digital story-telling has many uses in higher education. Students produce digital stories in the classroom as a learning activity and assessment tool. Faculty and staff create digital stories as teaching tools and outreach. Digital stories provide self-reflection, inspiration, connection, perspective, and new knowledge. Using accessible multimedia technologies and a straightforward template, we all can participate in the process of making meaning of our experience, and sharing those insights with the wider world!

So then, what is a digital story? The basic template includes a narration and images, merged together through video. The process of creating your own digital story is both easier and more difficult than you might expect. It is easier in that we all have amazing stories within us, and with a little guidance, current multimedia technology readily creates sharp productions. It is more difficult in that the craft of digital storytelling allows for endless nuance and perfecting, which quickly becomes apparent as you work through the creative process. Like chess, digital storytelling takes a little time to learn, but a long time to master.

Let's start with the basics. First and foremost, you need to decide on the story that you want to tell. Most fledgling storytellers focus on a personal story, as the material is immediately available. You may choose to tell a personal story based on an accomplishment, a struggle, an adventure, a choice, an identity, a philosophy, and - of course - a love. You may also tell a story about another person, such as a memorial to a grandparent, a biography of an inspirational figure, or the birth of a child. As story-telling creatures, we have seemingly unending capacity to make meaning - that is, to tell a story - about pretty much any aspect of our experience: a place, a tree, a star overhead.

What is the story you want to tell? What does it mean? And what does it really mean?

Draft your thoughts into a script, somewhere in the ballpark of 300-600 words. Keep in mind that you - or a suitable recruit - will narrate the script while showing images through a video production. Your first script does not need to be on par with Dostoevsky or Maya Angelou; do not be self-critical of your draft but rather focus on the process.

A few basic tips will get you a long way in honing your writing. First, own your emotions. You will feel vulnerable, but emotions make us human, and serve as a connecting point with an audience. It can be scary, but express your authentic self. Second, find the moment. A story distills down all the noise of life, and focuses on the heart of the matter. Is there a particular realization or event or object that crystallizes the meaning of your experience? Third, show instead of tell. Rather than say, "Bob was angry," say "With a quickened step, Bob stormed into the room, looking for a scapegoat."

A useful approach for refining the draft of your script is the story circle. Form a group and take turns reading aloud individual drafts. What worked and what didn't work? What was clear and what was a bit muddled? What images or phrases captivated? What emotions did you feel? If you choose to tell a digital story, you are going to feel exposed, so you may as well get used to putting yourself out there.

At the end of the day, your digital story will rise or fall based on the strength of your script.

With your script as scaffolding, start building a collage of images (photos, drawings, video) that reinforce your story. You may use your own personal images, or complete a Creative Commons search for non-copyrighted images. Also, you have the option to add music, but be careful not to overdo it or infringe on copyright.

Next, record a narration of your script. If you have a smartphone, you can easily record an audio file with numerous apps. Alternatively, you may use a tablet or laptop with a built-in mic, a stand alone mic connected to a computer, or a video created with a camera/camcorder (requiring you to extract the audio track). Expect to record your narration numerous times until you are happy with its pace and annunciation. You may use a free program such as Audacity to edit your narration.

The last step is to merge your audio (narration) and video (images) tracks into a single production. If you have a PC, you may use Movie Maker. If you have a Mac, you may use iMovie. You may also use a web-based program such as We Video. Are you a blooming director looking for more powerful editing capabilities? There are plenty of after-market software options, such as Apple Final Cut Pro, Cyberlink Power Director, or Adobe Premiere.

Now, go tell it on the mountain! Epiphanies are best when shared, especially when fresh on the soul.


 

Yin and Yang

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin and yang describes how seemingly opposing forces act in a complementary and interrelated way.

Many of the students that I work with are actively overcoming obstacles to higher education. These obstacles range from poverty to difficult work-school-life balance to English as a second language to challenges with math, and so on. What obstacles must you overcome to be successful in college?

The important point that I continually make with my students is that obstacles are assets. This may sound strange at first, because obstacles and assets seem to be opposing forces, but they are in fact complementary and interrelated. That is, to be overcoming obstacles is to be strong, resourceful, creative, driven, intelligent, hard working, and so on.

This realization does not make the obstacles any less formidable, but it should give you a boost of self-confidence. You are stronger than you realize. Let go of limiting thoughts and recognize how powerful you are to reach these heights through the process of overcoming obstacles.

Now channel that strength toward bigger and bigger goals - onward and upward! 

Don't Eat the Marshmallow

In a famous study, researchers provided children with a dilemma. "Here is a marshmallow," the researchers tell the child. "You can eat it now, or you can wait 15 minutes before eating the marshmallow, then you get two!"

You can imagine the agonizing choice for these pre-schoolers. "I could wait and get two, but this marshmallow looks so good!" Two-thirds of the children ate the marshmallow. Who could blame them?

The fancy word psychologists use here is delayed gratification. Sometimes we need to choose between a smaller immediate benefit or a larger delayed benefit.

Do you go to work right out of high school to earn $12 an hour, or do you wait 4-6 years to get a Bachelor's degree and a job that pays $20 an hour?

Do you have fun tonight with your friends, or do you study tonight to get good grades?

Do you take out a high interest loan to buy a fancy new car, or do you save up your money for a significant down payment?

Joachim de Posada has a message for you: don't eat the marshmallow! You will be much more successful in the long run.

The Reverse Oreo Effect

My niece meticulously deconstructs her Oreo cookies into three separate pieces - two chocolate cookies and one slice of frosting. The idea is to eat the chocolate cookies first, leaving the best for last, the frosting. In the case of an Oreo, the stuff in the middle is the best part!

College tends to be the opposite. The beginning of college, while a little nerve-wracking, is overall quite exciting! Everything is new and full of possibility. Dreams are fresh on the mind. This excitement is only exceeded by the end of college - graduation! The day of graduation is a true high point in life. In the middle of these highlights, however, is where the real battle is won or lost.

For, in the middle, students run into extremely challenging coursework, long hours slogging through homework, limited funds trying to make ends meet, and many other bumps in the road. Suddenly, college does not seem as glamorous. Rather, it is a lot of hard work, with difficult choices, and plenty of confusion and self-debt. Sure, there are many high points along the journey as well. But in the middle, the rubber meets the road, and students either pick themselves up and dust themselves off, or they quit.

There is no way to magically transport yourself from the first day of class to your commencement ceremony. In the long run, you would not want to do this anyway. The whole point of college is to push you to grow, to challenge your fortitude, to expand the limits of your mind, and to allow you to fail (and get back up) in a relatively safe environment. You come out stronger, wiser, skilled, knowledgeable, and prepared for the next stages of life. Iron sharpens iron. The college degree you receive at graduation is a testimony to your power.

To make it through the middle, you must commit to your success. Create a plan by setting goals and then utilizing all the tools available to reach them. Revisit your motivators often. Practice delayed gratification, which is to do what you ought to do, even when it is not what you want to do. See failure as a learning process, not a dead end. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Commit!

The Heart of the Matter

I was born a white heterosexual middle class healthy male in 20th century America.

Certainly, my parents sacrificed much to grant me a strong, stable and supportive environment in which to grow. Certainly, I have worked hard at my own development and taken on difficult challenges along the way. Certainly, I have committed to an ethical life built on integrity.

The point is that my family and I have inherited the freedom and power to make these choices.

It would be disingenuous to say that I regret the opportunity my life has afforded. That is nothing other than a charity toward my brothers and sisters without such power. Does superficial guilt benefit those without, or does it simply salve the conscience of those with privilege?

Rather than charity, what is required is justice. Rather than feeling bad about freedom, power and opportunity, what we need is committed and systemic action to break down the barriers that keep many people from accessing these ecosystems. The list of challenges is  dishearteningly well tread: prejudice, greed, violence, fear.

Working at a community college, I am inspired every day by stories of resilience and resourcefulness and drive in the face of many such challenges. Most of the time, these life stories are different than my individual story. However, the important realization is that your story is my story, just as mine yours. This is the human story. "I may not [seem] the same; it does not matter; no freedom until we're equal; damn right I support it."

Justice is the freedom of each and everyone of us to become who we are. At a deep visceral level, I am indignant when this freedom is curtailed, and fulfilled when it flourishes forth. To me privilege equates to the responsibility to use my power and opportunity to work toward justice. This is not heroic; I am not swooping in to "save" anyone. I am simply playing a role in my story, your story, our story. The unwritten future is our hope; our dreams remain to be realized.